Game 2: Vishwanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen agree another quick draw

Vishwanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen

World champion Vishwanathan Anand agreed a 50 minute draw with Magnus Carlsen after yet another routine game that left the players with very little room to force the issue. The score is tied at 1 each after two games and the players shall enjoy a day of rest on Monday. The second game of the FIDE World Chess Championship was even shorter than the first game as the players exchanged queens on the 18th move to quickly push the game into a necessary draw.

Anand opened with the King’s Pawn and while many expected the classical response leading to an Open Game, Carlsen surprised by opting for the Caro-Kann defence by opting to move his pawn to c6. While this was rarely used in championship matches, interestingly Anand had successfully employed the Caro-Kann against Topalov in a 1999 game at Linares to score a handy win. Anatoly Karpov was also very fond of this variation, using it in 79 of his games while playing black.

The players spent little time as the game advanced toward the 10th and 12th moves, but Anand was the happier of the two to allow the clock run weighing options even though they stuck with the expected moves. After they castled on either side with the 14th move, Anand could have forced the issue if he tried to vary the line, but he opted for the safety. Knight to e4 was perhaps the first giveaway as to where this game may have been destined.

The game was headed for a clear stalemate as soon as Anand accepted a queen exchange on the 18th move. The players shook hands soon after to gift themselves another easy evening with no blood spilt just yet. Admittedly, this has been a relatively quiet start for a World Championship match, but like the calm before the storm this could only mean that there could be some brutally invasive action coming up somewhere during the next week.

Grandmaster Pendyala Harikrishna agreed that Anand may have taken the conservative line as the players are still measuring up each other trying to understand each other’s form and preparation. The Hyderabadi chess player believes that they might continue plodding along in safety for a few more games before any chance of some serious action.

Harikrishna also emphasised the fact that the flurry of exchanges leading into the 19th made it very apparent that this game could only end in safety for both players. The 45th ranked Indian with an ELO rating of 2704 reminded us that the first eight games in Anand’s match against Gary Kasparov were drawn too, to underline the fact that the early draws are common in a championship match of this nature. However, he was also of the opinion that Carlsen must be pretty pleased with gaining an easy draw with black in the second game.

The players agreed a draw on the 25th move after repeating the Rook and Knight, starting on the 22nd move. The third of twelve games will be played on Tuesday at 0300pm with Carlsen enjoying the privilege of starting the game with white.

Chess board image sourced from: ChessVibes.com